October 18, 2011 ~ Please don’t mistake my disinterest in allowing another child to enter the Corps as a lack of support for our military. Our family will continue to serve and support our military, their families, and our veterans by giving our time and our talents to meet the needs here on the homefront. [...]

September 9, 2011 ~ We all live in a Post 9/11 world where life will never be the same for any of us. We all remember what we were doing ten years ago on that fateful day, at the very moment when we first heard the news of the planes hitting the Twin Towers and [...]

August 11, 2011 ~ I’m a casualty of war, but I’ve been far too focused on that fact for the past two and half years. I’ve allowed Traumatic Brain Injury and Post Traumatic Stress to steal my oldest son, and steal my joy. For the longest time we have been trudging through the stages of [...]

July 8, 2011 ~ Today marks the one year anniversary of the death of LCPL Adam Thomas Puckett. At the time of his death, just 25 years old, Adam had just returned from his second combat deployment with the United States Marine Corps. He was home on leave. For the past year, the lives of [...]

June 2, 2011 ~ The first time I walked into a Marine Corps Exchange, I thought I had died and gone to heaven…..Marine Corps Mom’s heaven, that is. I had not laid eyes on my son for months and back in my hometown, there was not a single place of business that sold anything related [...]

May 20, 2011 ~ I’m pretty sure most mothers feel the same way as I do about their children’s birthdays. The date on which they are born will always be ranked right up there with any national holiday if we are asked about its importance. Most children find themselves surrounded by a room full of [...]

May 16, 2011 ~ I’ve heard it described. The moment the soldier looks down and sees the trip wire that is going to set off the IED (Improvised Explosive Device) he freezes. His blood runs cold. His gut has an instant reaction. He breaks out in a cold sweat. Thoughts run through his mind faster [...]

May 16, 2011 ~ As the mother of one struggling with PTSD and TBI, the past couple of years has been one of my most difficult to survive. Though my wounded warrior still draws breath, he is no longer the person who left home seven years ago to join the Marine Corps. As I adjust to [...]

May 15, 2011 ~ Music is a language that we all understand. There are certain songs that make us clap our hands and stomp our feet. Some songs bring us to tears. Songs bring back memories from the past. Music is used in advertisements, and very effectively I might add. The music in a film [...]

May 10, 2010 ~ USA Today has released a tool to help us better understand the cause for military deaths during OIF and OEF. (Behind the Numbers – American casualties in Iraq, Afghanistan, and beyond). This presentation allows us to take a closer look at the American servicemembers who have died in Afghanistan, Iraq, and in other related [...]

May 9, 2011 ~ He’s really doing this! When my son walked out the door to head for Boot Camp, the first thing that hit me was the fact that he wasn’t simply talking about it anymore. He was doing it. He wanted to say good bye from the house. His recruiter came to the door [...]

May 4, 2011 ~ When our son returned from his third deployment, we could tell that something wasn’t right. We knew that there had been subtle changes even after the first and second deployments, but we could see a significant change after his return from deployment number three. We weren’t quite sure what was going [...]

May 3, 2011 ~ I drove two blocks from the house and reached down to pat my left hip, as I have done every time I’ve left my house for the past seven years. I fully expected to feel my cell phone clipped to the waist of my jeans. When I realized that what I [...]

June 7, 2011 ~ In the midst of a panic attack that blindsided me, I came to wonder if I have PTSD. You ask how this is possible knowing I’ve never been deployed to war. What you don’t know is that I live in the middle of one. This war began almost three years ago [...]

May 2, 2011 ~ Post Traumatic Stress – It’s spreading like an epidemic in our society. If it hasn’t affected you yet, it won’t be long. With so many of our combat veterans returning from multiple deployments, it should come as no surprise that there is a high percentage of Post Traumatic Stress, commonly referred [...]

April 2011 ~ What does it feel like when your child deploys to a war zone? For most of us who have had to let our child grow up in such a way, we really can’t describe how it feels…..at least not in a nutshell. If I had to choose just one phrase I guess [...]